Page 38 of The Omega's Secret Baby
I looked at both of them. Good to know my family was definitely keeping secrets from me. “Are you going to tell me what this is about?”
My mother’s lips formed a thin line. “This is not a conversation I want to be having now.” And before I could stop her, she simply left the room.
Sighing, I turned to my sister.
“Look what you did!” she said. “You really shouldn’t be stressing Mother like this on top of everything else she has to deal with already.”
“Cut the crap,” I said. “I know why you really want me to marry, and I’m telling you, it’s not going to happen.” Not now or anytime soon. I was done marrying people my family thought were good for me.
“Where’s your sense of duty?” she asked me. “I thought you alphas were all about protecting your family.”
“That doesn’t mean I can’t care about my own life.”
“Fine then, go ahead, be selfish.”
I shook my head at her and left the room. She wasn’t completely wrong about what she’d said. I did feel the need to protect my family. But our conversation had made me realize something. When I thought of my family now, I didn’t think of her or our parents. I thought of the most caring, most handsome omega and an energetic seven year old boy who had my eyes.
17
Matthew
After that conversationwith my family, I went out into the snow covered gardens to cool off. My family upsetting me was nothing new. Every time I came for a visit, be it on a school break or on a holiday from work, we found something to fight about. I'd found ways to deal with it. When I was younger, for a little while, my way to deal with stress had been Eli.
And to this day, I hadn't found a better way.
For some reason, I couldn't stay stressed around him. It was as if he could reach into my soul and soothe the tension away with just a look, a touch of the hand. I had no idea how he did it, but it was incredible.
So of course I thought of him now. When I was being honest, he'd never been far from my mind since I first ran into him all those years ago. Not even when I'd been married to Danielle.
It was one of the reasons I'd known I had to break up with her.
I just wished I had come to that realization a little bit sooner. Like, a few years sooner.
I wanted to talk to him, make plans for our future. Big plans. I never wanted to leave him again. I knew now what a mistake that had been.
I just wasn't sure how to fix my mistake without causing the man I loved any more pain. Maybe it was too late for that. The whole town was talking already. It wasn't fair that Eli had to be suffering for something we'd both done. Something that wasn't even abadthing.
Welovedeach other, I was sure of that. It was just the circumstances we lived in and everyone's prejudice complicating it all.
Tilting my head back, I looked up into the sky. It seemed like we were going to get more snow. I took a deep breath and fished my phone out of my pocket. I already had Eli's new number memorized, and I dialed it without thinking.
He answered the phone on the third ring. “Hello?” It was silly, and probably not something an alpha should be admitting, but just the sound of his voice made me feel a little better.
“Hey, it's me.”
“Oh, hey.” Eli's voice softened.
“I was wondering whether you and Jake might want to do something tonight.” After the fight I'd just had with my family, all I wanted to do was surround myself with the people whoreallymattered.
“Well, I'd love to, but Jake's grounded.” The way Eli sighed let me know how annoyed he was with his son. Our son.
“Did he get himself in trouble?”
“You could say that.” Eli paused, as if considering how much he wanted to tell me.
“Will you tell me what happened?”
“I guess youshouldknow,” he said, finally. “It's just... it's stupid. He keeps getting into fights with one of the boys in his school.”
